what's in a name?

what is in a name... a basement filled with pretty is a name i came up with to describe our basement here in providence. but it also describes the basement i grew up in. i grew up in new bedford, ma. our house was built in the 1880's. it was an old whaling house. my dad was a longshoreman, but for side work he cleared out old houses. in new bedford there are beautiful large houses that are filled with antiques. my dad brought home all the gems he found. he and my mum refinished  furniture in our dining room where they could close the sliding panel doors. the smell of stripper and poly would saturate the air and my clothes. my parents went to places like brimfield to buy antiques for a few stores in the new bedford area, and we would load it all into the basement for storage. as a child our dirt basement seemed cavernous. it housed boxes of claw feet and old knobs. copper hinges and brass door plates. chairs that needed caning and tables that needed stripping. this basement was filled with pretty.

my mum, dad, and sister april in our old whaling home 

 my husband and i recently bought a house here that was built in 1875. it was first used as a rectory, then a nunnery, and finally a family home.

our lovely old home in providence

 the basement has a crumbly concrete floor and is spacious. in this basement i house all my pretty vintage finds. tarnished silver plate, milk glass galore, pressed glass, lefton figurines, and my collection of religious planters. we have hinges and knobs. door plates and mail slot covers.

 my husband even has half of the basement, which can be closed off, to house his professional size table saw. this is his oasis. he creates all my jewelry displays in here while listening to country music and singing off key. he brings in some of the pallets we have piled in the garage, piled to the ceiling mind you. he rips these pallets apart and builds new treasure out of them, including my amazing dining room table.

the pallet wood dining table gilly made for us

 our basement is filled with pretty. pretty objects, pretty ideas, pretty dreams, and our pretty future.
so now you know what's in the name, of my blog. the name of my jewelry, vintage, upcycling business, i want a pony... now that will take another posting to explain! thanks for taking a peek into our basement. hopefully you can take a better peek soon when the etsy shop gets filled...

the new girl

 i feel like the ultimate new girl. i'm new to this blogging thing, i'm new to the ri craft fair thing, and i'm new to this start my own business thing.  lucky for me i have friends and family that have more faith in me than i do. this past saturday i had my first local craft fair as "i want a pony". i was scared that all the work i had done would go unnoticed. i was fearful that people would not receive my style or ideas well. i almost thought that i was crazy and maybe i would just skip it. my lovely cousin becky heard that i was doing this show and offered to make me cards.

 after seeing all the work she put into them, i went through with it. my husband built me displays, he loaded up his car with all my stuff, and he drove me to the show. he patted my hand as i cried in said car. he listened to me as i expressed my fear of failure. he spoke of my talents and how proud he was to be my husband. he helped me set up and he took pictures.

 

 this was my display. i finally saw what he saw. everyone else saw what my family and friends saw. i was a hit. everyone loved my mix of product with antiques. my packages was oooohed over. my merchandising was awwwwwed over. so i may not be zooey deschanel, but this new girl aint half bad. so this is a thanks to all who believe in me. i hope you all will keep tuning in to see how this all turns out! stay tuned...